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“Joey doesn’t need punishment, he needs help. This draconian kind of sentencing doesn’t address the real issues here and just pushes the massive gambling culture further underground. It’s like being a homosexual in the 1950s.”

He continued: “Joey was up front with the FA about his gambling back in 2012, so why didn’t the FA support him then?

“I saw first hand how Joey reached out to the younger players at Fleetwood who were obviously gambling, which had a massive positive impact.

“Instead of being nailed to a cross, he should be used to head a campaign to raise awareness and encourage openness.

Therapist Steve Pope (Image: Peter Powell/Sunday People)

“There’s no point someone preaching to you about gambling addiction who hasn’t been in your shoes. Joey is intelligent and articulate and to throw him to the wolves in this way is a huge waste.”

Steve, who has been drafted in to treat addiction problems at clubs including Manchester United, Spurs, Blackpool and Glasgow Rangers, said players have turned to gambling in droves since drug testing has become more frequent and drinking cultures largely curbed.

He said: “These are sportsmen who are picked and trained to get off on the high of scoring a goal or making that vital tackle.

“It’s a high that’s as powerful as any stimulant drug or gambling. These are young men who have been cocooned inside their club from as young as eight. They’re invariably given no guidance on matters such as how to manage their money or being made aware of what can happen if you get sucked into gambling.

“Training for just two or three hours a day, they also have huge amounts of spare time and a crazy amount of money.

Joey Barton (Image: PA)

“It’s a recipe for disaster and nobody is doing anything about it – least of all the FA who need to be taking responsibility.”

He added: “Football and the betting business are entwined through sponsorship and advertising. They often play cards on the bus to away matches – losing tens of thousands of pounds – as well as setting up online betting accounts which they check on their smartphones at half time.

“It takes away their focus on the matches but can ruin lives, families, communities and affect their team’s performance.

“I’ve even been given a betting tip for a match by a player in the tunnel before he walked on to the pitch – you can’t tell me that won’t affect his focus and eventually his long-term career.”

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One of Steve’s current patients, who cannot be named for legal reasons, plays for a Championship team in the North West and openly admits betting on matches including his own team.

He told us how he once won £25,000 in a weekend on a five-match accumulator, then lost £32,000 playing cards with his team mates the following Tuesday on the way to a game.

The player, who came up through his club’s academy, said: “When I progressed into the senior squad I started placing bets on the matches I was playing in, knowing how strong the side we were putting out was – which gave me an advantage.

“That’s strictly against the rules so I’d get someone else to place the bet for me. But it was my money.”

One study published last year revealed gambling is leaving footballers suffering from severe depression after massive betting binges.

One even considered suicide after racking up enormous gambling debts.

Paul Merson (Image: Wireimage)

Bangor University, in conjunction with its London and Oxford counterparts, interviewed 11 British players who have all experienced gambling problems.

Six are current or former Premier League stars and all were undergoing or had undergone treatment at the Sporting Chance Clinic.

The study said most of the 11 reported “severe symptoms of depression and anxiety characterised by mixtures of panic, hopelessness and thoughts of suicide”.

One revealed: “After gambling binges, after sleeping with prostitutes, you wake up and the reality of the day is dawning on you. You just feel empty and soulless, in a really dark hole.

“I was depressed from gambling, my life had become unmanageable and I think my body was just shutting down. I also had suicidal thoughts.”

But while big-name stars such as Joey Barton, Paul Merson and John Hartson make headlines, Steve said the gambling issue goes all the way down to grassroots.

He revealed: “I worked with one club’s scholars, the youngsters destined for great things and spoke to a player who won £2,500 on one match but he was gambling £1,000 a week.

John Hartson (Image: Reuters)

“Then I’ve worked with lower-league players gambling all their wages and more. They were resorting to stealing smartphones and watches from the dressing room to pay off their debts, or even worse, taking out payday loans which they can’t repay.

“Every way you turn as a player there are predators and temptations they’re not equipped to deal with.

“You have teams, leagues and TV and radio sponsored by betting firms, and without that money football as it exists now couldn’t happen.

“For a footballer it’s subliminally always there, the notion that you could get that high from a quick flutter. But it’s dirty money that ruins lives.”

■ For more information on Steve Pope or to contact him go to: www.stevepopeassociates.co.uk

Aces tempted and brought low

Paul Merson

Paul Merson (Image: PA)

Despite a fruitful post-playing career as a Sky Sports pundit, ex-Arsenal ace Paul Merson, left, has failed to

conquer his gambling demons. In 2008 he had to give up his £300,000 home after failing to maintain his mortgage payments.

Drug, alcohol and gambling addiction is said to have cost Merson £7million.

The Stoke winger admitted blowing £1.5million on gambling in 2010. His woes – linked to poker and horse betting – peaked at West Ham.

Michael Chopra

The Blackpool striker lost up to £2million. His £20,000 a day habit forced him to leave Cardiff and play injured at Ipswich to cover debts.

Kenny Sansom

Kenny Samson (Image: Thomas Mackintosh /Twitter)

Arsenal legend Samson came clean about his gambling problems earlier this year.

Sansom, now 54, said betting and booze had left him destitute.

Keith Gillespie

The Northern Ireland star had an illustrious career at Man United, Newcastle and Blackburn but he declared bankruptcy in 2010, citing betting on horses as a factor.

Dietmar Hamann

Former Liverpool and Germany midfielder Hamann revealed his gambling problems in his autobiography.

He once lost £288,400 on an Australia-South Africa cricket match.

Dominic Matteo

Dominic Matteo (Image: Getty)

Ex-Leeds skipper Matteo documented his gambling addiction in his autobiography.

He admitted seven- figure losses and jeopardising his daughter’s inheritance after getting hooked on phone betting.

David Bentley

The ex-West Ham and Spurs winger placed his first bet at 14 and went on to stake up to 100 on online poker, horses and dogs. He credits his girlfriend and agent Robert Segal for saving him.

LEAGUE PRO - £33k gone at cards on coach on way to game

Teenager “Mark” plays for a Championship team in the North West of England.

The 18-year-old, whose real identity is not being revealed, said: “I’ve been in an academy since I was nine, so all I’ve known is football.

“I’ve moved around a bit in the North West from club to club and I have to say there’s a big gambling culture, which is what sucked me in.

“I’d hear the older lads in the changing room bragging about their wins and wanted a bit of the action, so when I was 17 I borrowed my dad’s debit card and signed up to Ladbroke’s.

“Dad put a stop to that but the older guys I played with were happy to place bets for me – if anything they encouraged it, giving me tips and wanting to show me how to win.

“Gambling was a real bond between the players but of course we never openly talked about it in front of the coaches.

“When I turned 18 I started getting a weekly £90 salary, which would go straight into my betting accounts.

“By Monday I’d either be broke or rich. I could turn £90 into £1,000 but if I won I’d just keep betting until I lost it all again.

“Once I had some cash left over from the previous weekend

and made £25,000 on a five-match accumulator, then lost all of it and £8,000 on top playing cards in the coach on the way to a game.

“Needless to say in that match I was useless on the pitch, constantly thinking how stupid I’d been.

“About six months ago my parents found my betting history, the massive number of bets I’d placed and the sums I’d staked. They contacted Steve Pope. At first I said there was no way I needed help from any therapist, but it has been a life-saver.

“I see Steve once a week and we discuss how much I’d gambled, the emotions I feel when I win and lose.

“He tells me about all the footballers he knows who’ve ruined their careers and lives with gambling.

“I’m still placing bets online and in the bookies but I’m cutting back loads and definitely never betting on any match I’m playing in.

“I’m just glad I found Steve before I ruined my career. Gambling is simply what you do in your spare time as a footballer, it’s what you talk about.

“You’re always told about not drinking, and of course drugs are a no-no, so it seems like a safe option. But I know from what almost happened to me it’s the opposite.

“It is crazy so many clubs and leagues are sponsored by betting firms and loans

companies. When you’re on the inside it’s hard to take a step

back and see what’s really going on.”

LOWER LEAGUE PRO - I walked out on club I loved to go on betting

Jack Perry (Image: Peter Powell/Sunday People)

Jack Perry joined the under-16s squad at Fleetwood Town five years ago and quickly got drawn into gambling.

After just over two years he quit football because of his addiction.

He had lost £30,000 and is only now close to paying off his debts.

He said: “I trained three or four times a week, with a match or two thrown in, and loved every minute.

“The guys would talk about the odd bet and when I was 17 I started using my parents’ credit card to place small bets online.

“Fleetwood didn’t actively talk to us about gambling or drinking. Steve Pope was working as a sports psychologist there at the time but I didn’t tell him, the other players or my family when my gambling started to escalate.

“Some mates and I started going to the casino in Blackpool and that became my Achilles heel.

“I started borrowing money off credit cards and payday lenders. I wanted to gamble so much that when I was approaching my 19th birthday I just walked out.

Jack Perry with Steve Pope (Image: Peter Powell/Sunday People)

“My parents were furious and the club begged me to stay but I wouldn’t be told. I was homeless with no income but I still wanted to gamble.”

Luckily for Jack his girlfriend Laura stood by him and they had a little girl, which gave him a new focus.

He said: “I started seeing Steve Pope, who helped me, and I did a series of jobs, slowly starting to pay back some of the debts. I’m only now starting to get on top of those loans and overdrafts.”

Jack, who now has a job in a photographic shop in Lytham St Annes, added: “I’ll never go back to gambling. I’m so lucky to have been given this second chance.”